No Public Funerals, No Posters: Mangaluru On Alert After Spate Of Murders

Mangaluru: Karnataka Police review law and order in coastal district

Bengaluru:

The police in Karnataka’s coastal district Mangaluru, which has seen violence tinged with communal tension in recent times, have set strict rules about public conduct to prevent potential troublemakers from disturbing peace.

The restriction will be in force from 6 pm to 6 am from August 5 to 8. Karnataka’s ADGP (Law and Order) Alok Kumar has been sent again to Mangaluru to review the situation.

The police have banned public funerals in Mangaluru during this period. Earlier, male pillion riders were banned; however, the order was withdrawn later.

A man was stabbed to death outside a shop by masked attackers in Mangaluru on July 28. The murder, seen on CCTV camera, happened amid tension in the district over the killing of BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru on July 26.

Slogan-shouting and putting up posters in public places are banned. Any act that disturbs public decorum, threatens public safety and instigates criminal activity is banned, the police said.

No more than five people are allowed to gather at a public area. No one is allowed to carry any kind of weapon, swords, knives or other objects that can be used to hurt people.

The police said no one can burst firecrackers or carry similar material. They have asked citizens to avoid derogatory or inflammatory speeches targeting government institutions and officials on duty.

The murder that took place on July 28, a day after BJP member Praveen Nettaru’s killing in Bellare, had sent shockwaves across the district.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said the probe into the July 26 murder of the BJP youth wing leader will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency, or NIA, which mainly handles terror-linked cases.

The two murders had raised questions over law and order in Karnataka. While Mr Nettaru, 32, was killed in Dakshina Kannada district, a man named Fazil, 23, was stabbed to death by masked attackers in Mangaluru.